1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of smoking apparatus, and more particularly to a novel belt buckle constructed in such a fashion as to have dual purposes serving as a belt buckle or closure as well as serving as a tobacco pipe.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
In the past, it has been the conventional practice to provide a pipe for smoking tobacco which includes a bowl having an elongated stem with an internal passageway communicating with the interior of the bowl. In general, a quantity of tobacco is placed inside the interior of the bowl and is ignited by a match or the like while the user is drawing air into the bowl, around the tobacco and through the stem passageway. In other instances, conventional pipes might have taken the form of decorative items wherein the bowl was carved or formed to represent various graphic renderings so as to disguise the item as a pipe. In other instances, prior pipes have included means for filtering the smoke of the pipe through water or other filtration systems prior to inhalation by the user.
Difficulties and problems have been encountered with each of the respective prior devices which stem largely from the fact that the pipes were used for solely smoking purposes and did not have any other function or utility. Furthermore, no apparent effort has been made to disguise or to configure a pipe into a decorative or utilitarian device which is totally non-associated with the smoking procedure.
Therefore, a long-standing need has existed to provide a pipe in a suitable form which is not only decorative but incorporates a totally different function as in the function associated with a smoking procedure. Such a device should be able to hold a quantity of tobacco and provide sufficient draft for ignition and maintain burning of the tobacco while the device is being smoked. The device should be unrecognizable as a pipe from a visual and functional standpoint.